


Learning to Dance

by enbyred



Series: College AU [1]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, i'm keeping all the magic tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-11 05:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18424134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyred/pseuds/enbyred
Summary: Callum is trying to survive the semester as the only human majoring in primal magic, and Rayla is trying to survive the semester as she's bored out of her mind. Maybe they can help each other out.Written for Rayllum Week 2019 :)





	1. Fireflies

Callum pulled the car over in front of the high school and put it into park, turning to give Ezran an encouraging grin.

“First day of high school,” he said. “You excited?”

Ezran fiddled with his sleeves, his eyes intently fixed on his hands. “No.”

Putting a gentle hand on Ezran’s shoulder, Callum replied, “Hey, we’ve been over this. You’ll be okay. If anyone is mean to you because you’re a little young, that’s their problem. You’re the one who skipped eighth grade because you were too smart for it. If anything, the only reason the other kids would tease you is because they’re jealous of your incredible brain.” He ruffled Ezran’s hair, coaxing a smile out of him.

“Yeah.” Ez perked up, just a bit, and nodded. “Yeah, I’m here because I’m smart. I worked for this.”

“That’s the spirit. Now go get ‘em. Dad’ll be here to pick you up after school.” Callum lifted Ezran’s backpack into his brother’s lap.

Ezran opened the car door and slipped out, slinging his backpack onto his shoulders. He gave a small wave back in Callum’s direction and trudged toward the school. Only when he had disappeared behind the front doors did Callum release the breath he had been holding and pull away from the curb to get himself to school.

His semester had started a few weeks before, and he wasn’t having any easier of a time than Ezran was bound to have. But that didn’t matter. He was there for a reason. It was what he wanted to do.

He liked getting to campus early. Bringing Ezran to school would be great for him this semester, because he could get in some more study time while he sat in the commuter lounge. Not many people on college campuses were awake before nine in the morning. It was still quiet, with the occasional athlete coming from practice, or small groups of friends going to breakfast.

Settling into his usual spot in the commuter lounge, he pulled out his textbook for history of moon magic to look over the reading he had done the night before. All he had to do was answer a couple of Lujanne’s questions correctly. Don’t talk too much. Don’t be silent. There was a gentle balance that he was figuring out he needed to keep, as a human in the primal magic department.

He was halfway through checking his homework for ancient Draconic when the alarm on his phone went off to remind him that it was time for class. Taking a deep breath, Callum packed up his things and ventured out of the lounge. Professor Lujanne was accepting enough, since it was just a history class, but the other students weren’t so much. It took all of the confidence he could muster each day just to walk into class and prove that he knew what he was doing. So what if he wasn’t born connected to a primal source? He could still learn, and he would figure out the practical parts of the major when that became relevant.

He sat on the far side of the room, making sure that his textbook and notes were neatly prepared for him. He was going to ace this class if it killed him.

The only thing that seemed to be killing him, however, the glare of each student as they entered the room. Most of them were taking the class as a gen ed, and could care less about the content of the class. Yet everyone seemed to have an opinion on his presence there.

Callum slumped in his seat and pulled his hood over his head. Maybe if they weren’t reminded about his lack of horns, they wouldn’t pay him as much attention.

That only slightly seemed to quell them as the room filled with students. It certainly didn’t make anyone happy about him being there, but they seemed to be less aware of his human nature. That was all he needed for now. He took deep breaths and kept repeating to himself that this wasn’t forever. It was just three more years, then he would complete his undergrad.

And then would come grad school. He couldn’t get licensed as a mage without grad school.

He tore his mind away before he could spiral, focusing his attention on Professor Lujanne, who had just prompted them to turn to their reading from the previous night. For once, he cursed himself for having already turned to the correct page, because as paper shuffled and students grumbled about history, Callum took notice that yet again, not a single one of the shuffling textbooks was anywhere near him. He was only three weeks into school and had already become a total social outcast, a complete island on the far side of the classroom.

Right on cue, four minutes late exactly, a straggler burst into the room a little too loudly. Professor Lujanne sighed, exasperated, but gestured for her to take a seat. As usual, the only ones left were the ones surrounding Callum.

They weren’t unfamiliar with this routine. Callum had learned that this elf’s name was Rayla, and despite her actually being a Moonshadow elf, she had little interest in the history of her own magic. Almost as though it was her own act of rebellion, she arrived four minutes late to every class. She wasn’t fond of Callum, but she always sat next to him, and as she refused to get the textbook, whenever they used it in class, she shared his. At least she didn’t actively hate him. Even after three weeks, she still hadn’t gotten her own textbook, which meant that she must not mind sharing with him.

He slid his book over a few inches to sit between them. Rayla sipped her iced coffee and leaned back in her chair, giving the book an uninterested glance.

When he had made it through another class without his classmates murdering him, Callum considered asking Rayla about herself, getting to know her, maybe hanging out…. But with the way she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the classroom without so much as a wave, he elected that it was better to leave her alone.

His phone buzzed a few times, and he grinned at the screen. At least he still had Claudia and Soren, he acknowledged as Claudia spammed him with texts.

**_Claudia <3: _ ** _ CALLUM _

**_Claudia <3:_ ** _ CALLUM ARE YOU OUT OF CLASS YET _

**_Claudia <3:_ ** _ I HAVE A COOL THING I WANT TO SHOW YOU _

**_Claudia <3:_ ** _ I LEARNED A NEW SPELL AND YOU NEED TO SEE IT RIGHT NOW _

**_Claudia <3:_ ** _ RIGHT NOW, CALLUM _

**_Claudia <3: _ ** _ SOREN WILL BE SAD IF YOU DON’T COME TO HANG OUT WITH US THIS VERY SECOND _

**_Claudia <3:_ ** _ [image] _

**_Claudia <3:_ ** _ SEE HOW SAD HE IS? COME HANG OUT _

Callum laughed aloud and texted her back as he wandered through the hallways.

**_Callum:_ ** _ I’m on my way! Show me the spell! _

He picked up the pace to get to the library basement, where magic students preferred to study, since it was the one place where they were allowed to make noise.

He walked into one of the protected magic practice areas, and suddenly wondered if it was the right one. Instead if the put-together dark-haired girl, he saw one with messy, glowing blonde hair. Literally, glowing. Her hair was shining so brightly that Callum had to shield his eyes from her.

“Callum!” Claudia exclaimed. “Look at this! Isn’t this the coolest spell?”

“I can’t,” Callum laughed, stepping closer and trying to squint at her. “What kind of spell is that?”

“A bug-butt spell,” Soren groaned, lounging in the corner with his eyes squeezed shut. The pained look Soren had in the picture Claudia sent suddenly made sense. “Bug butts make her shiny, apparently. Make her stop it.”

“I can’t stop shining, Sor-bear!” Claudia replied. “No, seriously, I’m not sure how to reverse the spell.”

Keeping Claudia out of his sight, Callum managed to find her textbook on the floor near Soren. He flipped the page and grimaced at the instructions, but read it aloud to her anyway.

“‘To reverse the glowing spell from fireflies-’ oh those kinds of bug butts- ‘one would need a common house spider and ash.’” He looked up and immediately regretted it, casting his gaze back down so he wouldn’t blind himself. “Can you get your hands on those things?”

“Soren, you gotta get the spider from Dad,” Claudia told him. “I can’t exactly go around campus like this.”

“I hate you and your spider magic,” Soren declared, standing to leave the room - hopefully to retrieve the spider.

“Callum.” Claudia put her hands on Callum’s shoulder and he closed his eyes. “There’s an ashtray on, like, every trash can around campus. I need you to get one for me.”

With a nod, Callum said, “Got it,” and ran from the library to wrestle an ashtray off a trash can. As expected, it was full of cigarette ash, and Callum nearly sent it flying everywhere when he got it free.

Within minutes of having the two items necessary for the reverse spell, Claudia’s hair was back to her normal black and purple.

“That was fun!” Claudia giggled, flopping down next to Callum on the hard couch. “Thanks for helping with that spell, I never would have figured it out without you. Man, it was so bright that I couldn’t have looked at my book if I tried.”

Flipping his Draconic book back open to where he had left off earlier, Callum replied, “I mean, Soren could have done it just as easily. It was right next to the spell you had open.”

Claudia turned to Callum with a dead-serious look on her face. “Bold of you to assume Soren can read.”

“Dude,” Soren cut in. “I’m right here.”

“Plus, you understand magic!” Claudia continued, ignoring her brother. “I keep telling you, you should switch to the dark magic department with me! You’d be so good at it, you wouldn’t have to learn Draconic, and the students wouldn’t hate you like the elves do!” She conjured some glitter in her hand to sprinkle over Callum’s book, almost as though for added effect.

He dumped the glitter into her lap, saying, “Thanks, but I really love primal magic. If the other primal majors’ opinions of me mattered so much, I wouldn’t be in this department.”

“Callum’s at least smart enough to want to learn magic that doesn’t involve making his brother find spiders for him,” Soren commented, running his fingers through his hair. “The closest I got to touching it was holding it in the jar Dad gave me, and I still feel like it’s in my hair.” He ruffled his hair for good measure.

“Nah.” Claudia flipped her hair over her shoulder. “It’s dead and in  _ my  _ hair.”

Callum wrinkled his nose at that. “More reason not to be in dark magic. I don’t want spiders anywhere near my hair.” He scribbled translation notes in his book.

Soren and Claudia let him work in peace until he was half satisfied with his work. The moment Callum closed his book and brushed more glitter off of himself, Soren stood and stretched, letting out a yawn much louder than it needed to be.

“I’m starving. Dealing with you two and your dumb magic is exhausting. Let’s go get something to eat.”

Claudia pouted. “But I was just about to try a spell that can-”

“No,” Soren told her definitively. “No more fireflies, no more spiders, no more worms that, like, give you the power to crawl underground or whatever. Let’s go  _ eat _ .” He tugged Callum out of his seat.

With a huff, Claudia stood and stuffed her textbook in her bag. “Fine, I’ll come with you. I’ll study at home later.”

“Only if you keep it away from me,” Soren demanded.

Claudia rolled her eyes and the three left the library to make their way to the union. They were barely out the door when something small ran in front of Callum’s feet, making him trip and fall to the ground. His backpack was still half-open, letting his textbooks and phone go flying down with him. He hit the ground hard and only barely processed what it was that had tripped him: the energetic baby dragon Zym that liked to wander the campus.

“Come on, wee one,” a voice a few feet away said. Callum looked up as he shrugged off his backpack to grab his books and Claudia tried to inspect his hands to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Rayla was hoisting Zym up onto her shoulder. “You know you’re not supposed to be wandering campus by yourself. The dark magic department would love to get their hands on you.” She cast a glare in Claudia’s direction before kneeling down and picking up Callum’s Draconic book to hand to him. “Ugh, why you’re putting yourself through that class, I’ll never know. Here.”

“Thanks.” Callum shoved it back in his bag. “It’s kind of required for the primal major. Thought you would’ve known that.”

Rayla raised an eyebrow. “I’m environmental science. I wouldn’t know the requirements for primal.” She scratched behind Zym’s horns, picking up Callum’s (shockingly intact) phone as it lit up with a text from his father.

Glancing at it, Callum sighed and muttered, “Guess I’ll have to leave right after Draconic to pick my brother up from school.” He turned his attention back to Rayla and said, “Thanks for your help. I’ll see you in class.”

She gave him a halfhearted wave, paying no attention to Soren and Claudia (the latter, who was used to her own brand of hatred from elves. Every one of them hated dark magic majors, and unfortunately, Callum could understand why).

“She’ll come around,” Claudia declared with a smile. “After all, my dad is trying to merge the dark and primal magic departments. It’ll give everyone a more well-rounded understanding of magic as a whole, you know?”

Callum felt a pit form in his stomach. There had been rumors, but Claudia had never mentioned it before. As much as he loved their family, he prayed with everything in him that the merge wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t about to stop Claudia from learning dark magic, but that didn’t mean that all magic students should learn it. Especially those with moral objections to it.

Still, he said nothing, and continued with Soren and Claudia to get some lunch.


	2. Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla and Callum study for their upcoming test.

Rayla checked her phone and groaned at the time. There was a history of moon magic test the next morning, and if she wanted to get the gen ed out of the way, she had to at least pass it. And of course, because of her own stubbornness in not getting the book, she couldn’t study in the peace and quiet of her room like she did for other classes. She would have to check out the copy in the library.

Rolling off her bed, she slipped on her shoes and pulled on a hoodie to shield her from the crisp September air. The sun was still high above, warming her skin as she trekked across campus. 

She shivered upon stepping into the too-air conditioned library and went straight to the front desk, handing them her student ID.

“If you’ve got the history of moon magic book on reserve, I’d like to use it,” she informed them.

The clerk turned to look over the textbook titles, and just as she pulled one out, Rayla felt a hand on her arm. She immediately swatted it away, grabbing at the person’s wrist, and positioned her foot to sweep theirs out from under them, holding fast to the collar of their shirt.

“Whoa!” The human from her class was the one staring back up at her, his free hand raised in surrender. “Sorry, I heard you ask for the textbook, and I’m studying for the test already, I could use some help if you want.”

Rayla blinked and released him, muttering an apology before turning back to the clerk to retrieve her ID. “Thanks, I’ll just share with him.”

He led her to the desk in the corner he’d been using to study, and she pulled up an extra chair.

“Sorry to scare you,” Rayla said as she sat. “Reflex. It was Callum, right?”

Nodding, Callum pushed his book to sit between them like it did in class. “Yeah. Some reflex, Four-Minutes-Late Rayla.” He held back a grin at his own dumb joke.

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t resist a smile. “Grew up in a martial arts family. And Lujanne and I aren’t on fantastic terms. She’s got a stupid policy that if you’re five minutes or more late, she docks your participation grade, little by little. So I arrive four minutes late, and she has no power over me.” Her smile grew into a wicked grin.

Callum chuckled. “I sensed some bad blood between you two. But hey, whatever works for you.”

“Frustrating her will always work for me. Now show me what you’re studying and I’ll make you teach me.”

He pointed out the sections they were being tested on and started rambling about what he could and couldn’t remember about what they had gone over in class. It was in the middle of his explanation about the destruction of the Moonhenge that Rayla realized she had hardly been listening, and had not absorbed a single word he’d said. Apparently, the bit of hair sticking up on the back of his head was more interesting than history.

“Wait,” Rayla cut him off. “You have to understand that I don’t pay any attention in class. What was the Moonhenge  _ for _  before the mages destroyed it?”

Callum brightened and expanded, “They performed rituals there that could transport them to other planes of reality! Well, I mean, that’s what historians say, I did some research on it, and nobody seems to think any differently, but also, nobody can really prove it. They say that the mages could go into that dimension to amplify their power. If they performed the ritual on the night of the full moon, then their magic would stay just as powerful for the next month as it was during the full moon. And then they’d do it again at the next full moon. It was like a monthly renewal of maximum power. Isn’t that cool?” His green eyes sparkled as he talked so animatedly about a subject Rayla couldn’t find more boring.

“Pretty cool,” she replied. “And they destroyed it because of humans?”

His expression grew grim. “Dark magic users. The moon mages wanted to make sure that no one could abuse the power of the Moonhenge.”

It wasn’t common to meet a human who had that sort of reaction to talking about dark magic. Usually they talked about it the same way they talked about primal magic, as though the two were no different. Callum, though...the way he spoke, he seemed to understand the divide. That must have been the reason why he endured the other elves instead of switching to the dark magic department. Rayla felt the slightest surge of pride in her heart, glad that Callum was taking the path he was.

Callum continued giving brief overviews of the relevant sections, Rayla stopping him wherever she needed an explanation. Every so often, she would correct him on the cultural context of things, at which he would pause, make a face as he processed the new information, then looked as though she had just answered every question in the world for him as he wrote it in his notes.

She wasn’t sure how long they studied, but she did notice when the sun went down, briefly coloring the textbook pages in a soft orange before the sun disappeared completely.

It was only when Callum’s stomach growled that he sighed and put his head down on the desk.

“You’re studying too hard,” Rayla told him, nudging his leg with her foot. “You’re so stressed about this test, but you’re gonna do great. Go home, get some dinner, go to bed.”

He shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. I  _ have _ to get a perfect score on this test. I can’t give anyone a reason to believe that I don’t belong in the primal magic department. Just because I wasn’t born connected to an arcanum doesn’t mean that I can’t do it. I know I can, I just need to make them see it too.”

“You’re already gonna get a perfect score, Callum,” Rayla replied, rolling her eyes. “Stop worrying so much, you’ll be fine. Take care of yourself first.”

“No,” he said insistently. “I won’t focus as well if I go home. All I’ll want to do is draw and hang out with my little brother.”

Rayla sighed. “Okay. I get it. But if you stay too late, you’re going to burn yourself out, driving’ll be dangerous, and you won’t be at your best for the test.” A thought occurred to her. She hesitated in suggesting it, but this poor human was going to be helpless without someone to help him out. “My roommate dropped out after a month of school, I have an extra bed. If you want, you can stay in my room tonight. I’ve got food, so you won’t have to waste any money on the gross stuff they serve on campus. Sound good?”

Callum blinked at her for a moment, and she could nearly see the wheels slowly turning in his head to understand her offer. A pink dusting on his cheeks, he nodded and said, “Y-yeah, that would be great, actually. I’d really appreciate that. Let me just text my dad that I won’t be home tonight…” He grabbed his phone and busied himself with texting his father.

Taking the break in studying to check her own phone, Rayla found a few texts from her uncle that made her blood run cold.

**_Runaan:_ ** _ another dark magic poaching incident near campus _

**_Runaan:_ ** _ a gryphon this time _

**_Runaan:_ ** _ be careful of humans with ties to magic. and keep a close eye on that dragon _

She quickly closed the app and turned off her screen, shoving her phone back into her pocket. Callum was different, she told herself. Callum understood why dark magic was wrong. He was earnest and smart. Runaan couldn’t lump every magic-using human into the same category. Only...most of them. Not Callum.

Shaking the thought from her mind, she stood and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Come on. I’ll make you a delicious, wholesome meal of Easy Mac, and I might have some carrots somewhere, or some celery with peanut butter if you like that.”

Callum snorted, slipping on his backpack. “I thought you were saving me from gross food.”

With a shrug, Rayla pointed out, “I never said my food wasn’t gross, I just said you wouldn’t have to spend money on campus food.”

“Touche. Lead me to the Easy Mac.”

She led the way to her dorm building, bypassing the desk attendant who didn’t care if either of them lived there or not. They took the elevator up a few floors and Rayla unlocked her door.

“Here we are,” Rayla said, pushing open the door and holding it for Callum. “Home sweet home. I have an extra set of sheets and a blanket we can put on the other bed.”

“Thanks,” Callum said quietly, putting his bag on the extra desk chair and looking around the room.

Rayla suddenly felt very conscious of everything she owned (despite the fact that, as far as she knew, everything in her room was perfectly normal for a nineteen-year-old elf to have in a dorm). Her bed was unmade, books and notes from classes she actually cared about were thrown haphazardly on her desk, she had a pile of clean laundry she hadn’t yet put away sitting on the foot of her bed. She had posters up of TV shows, and drawings her brother had done when he was little, as well as a set of white rocks her sister had given her. A set of fairy lights hung from above her window, at the top of a set of sheer curtains that billowed just slightly with her window cracked.

It was a normal room. It was where she was comfortable, and she’d never been self-conscious about anyone else being in there before. Why was Callum’s presence different?

She decided that it was because of her uncle’s texts. It felt almost taboo to have Callum stay over directly after Runaan warned her about humans with magic, but it didn’t matter because he was the exception. She could carry on and remember that her room was just as normal as his probably was.

Grabbing two cups of Easy Mac, Rayla nodded toward the door and said, “I gotta get some water for these. The sheets are on the top shelf in the closet if you want to make the bed.”

Callum nodded as she left the room to use the bathroom faucet, feeling uneasy that she gave someone full access to her closet like that, instead of just getting the sheets for him. What in the world was wrong with her tonight? She huffed and quickly filled the cups before going back to her room.

Opening the door, she snorted and nearly dropped the cups at the sight of Callum reaching to put the fitted sheet on the mattress, and promptly falling face down on the bed, she sheet snapping back into a crumpled mess.

Rayla laughed and put the Easy Mac in the microwave, turning to grin at Callum making a fool of himself.

“Real helpful!” he accused, though the corner of his mouth twitching up told her that he was just as amused as she was. “Sure, just let the dumb human make the bed himself and fall over like an idiot, then laugh at him! That’s a great plan!”

With a nod, Rayla replied, “You’re entirely right. It’s a wonderful plan. The least you can do for the one hosting and feeding you is provide a little entertainment.” She clapped her hands. “Now dance!”

Casting her a wicked look, he grabbed her hand before she could react, spun her around, and caught her with a hand on her waist.

“Only if you dance with me!” he said with a laugh.

Rayla could feel her face heating up, but ignored it and spun again, pulling him back toward her and saying, “Only if I get to lead.”

They were both terrible dancers, Rayla realized as they hopped and danced around the small room, stepping on each other’s feet and throwing each other off balance, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t enjoying it. Callum was fun. They were both laughing hard enough that it was difficult to keep dancing, but they continued, spinning each other, Rayla sweeping Callum down into a dramatic dip.

She underestimated the force with which she pulled him into the dip, and they both went tumbling down to the floor. They landed on the rug in a heap, giggling against each other, catching their breath before falling into a comfortable silence as Rayla rolled onto the floor next to him.

It was nice. Rayla was sure that it was going to be horribly awkward to have this human boy she didn’t know well stay in her room overnight, but this was already much better than she had anticipated.

The silence stretched on for longer than most people would think socially acceptable, only broken by the beeping of the microwave. Rayla jumped up to retrieve their macaroni and tossed Callum’s cheese packet to him (which hit his face as he sat up). She handed over his cup and a plastic fork, getting to work on mixing cheese into her own macaroni.

“So what were you doing staying on campus so late in the first place?” she ventured to ask. “Don’t you babysit your brother or something?”

Callum shook his head and chuckled, “If either one of us is doing the babysitting, it’s him. Sometimes I have to pick him up from school, since our dad is job hunting - he used to be a government professor here - and our aunt goes out of town a lot. I don’t mind, though. Ezran’s only twelve, but he started high school last week. He’s a genius, Rayla. Two years ahead in school, and the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet.”

“Runs in the family, then,” Rayla muttered, avoiding eye contact. The grin on his face as he talked about his brother was almost too much for her to handle.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” She smiled. “He sounds like a great kid.” Gesturing to the drawings on the wall, she said, “I’ve got little siblings too. Fourteen year old twins. My brother Daelan can’t stand that I keep his old drawings, and my sister Leda thinks those rocks she gave me are stupid, but I think it’s cute, you know?”

“Yeah.” Callum’s smile was far away, and Rayla was sure that he was thinking about similar things with his brother. “Yeah, I know.”

The moment they finished their Easy Mac and Rayla had helped him with the sheets, Callum was at the extra desk with his textbook open again. Rayla flopped down on her bed and groaned.

“More studying?” she whined. “Haven’t you studied enough?”

“Nope.” He scribbled a note in the text. “Perfect score, Rayla. You’re welcome to shoot for any score you want, but I’m not doing any less than perfect on this test.”

She checked the time and yawned, finding it to be much later than she anticipated. “Stay up as long as you like, but I’m going to bed. The light won’t bother me.” He nodded absently as she left the room to change and brush her teeth. 

He was deeply engrossed in the text when she came back and placed an extra pillow and set of blankets on the spare bed. She wandered over to her desk and took a pencil to throw at Callum’s head. He turned and glared at her.

“Don’t stay up too late,” she warned. “You’ll want to be able to stay awake during the exam.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I’ll go to bed soon. Just one more look over this chapter.” He paused for a moment. “Thanks for letting me stay here.”

Crawling into bed, Rayla stretched and plugged her phone in to charge. “No problem. Good night, Callum.”

“Good night, Rayla.”


	3. College

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla needs to figure out why her stomach is in knots as she and Callum discuss dark magic.

Rayla woke up before her alarm. That happened a lot, and she usually stayed in bed scrolling through social media until it was time to get up. This morning, she didn’t. She propped herself up and toggled through her phone to turn off the alarm. A glance to the other bed told her that Callum was still fast asleep, the blanket barely covering his back and half a leg as the rest hung dangerously off the bed, ready to fall at any time. She smiled and felt her stomach twist itself into knots.

Huh. Maybe she was more nervous for that test than she thought.

As she got out of bed and filled her electric kettle with water, she frustratedly admitted to herself that the discomfort she felt had nothing to do with the test, and everything to do with the boy in her room.

It wasn’t like she’d never had a crush before. Her crushes usually weren’t on dorky human magic users, though. And never had she developed a crush on someone so quickly. They were only just over a month into the semester, and she’d barely had any time to get to know him as anything beyond ‘the one whose book she shares in class.’

She scooped tea into diffusers and poured the hot water into a pair of mugs, trying to push the thoughts from her mind.

And yet, before she nudged Callum awake, Rayla found herself glancing in the mirror to make sure her hair wasn’t caught on her horns. She mentally cursed herself and brought to mind the fact that Callum was the exact same as he was the day before, and the month before. Nothing had changed. He just happened to be really cute sprawled out on her extra bed.

Grabbing one mug, she nudged Callum’s shoulder and quietly said, “Time to get up. I’m not letting you oversleep on test day. You’re gonna get a perfect score if it kills me.”

Callum shifted and groaned, turning his head to look at her. He offered a sleepy smile as he greeted, “Mornin’, Rayla. What-” A yawn interrupted his question as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”

She handed him the mug of tea. “Only about nine. We’ve got a bit before the test.”

His hair was adorably messy, sticking up in all directions as he closed his eyes and smelled the tea.

“I usually don’t drink tea,” he commented. “But this smells really good.” Before Rayla could warn him, he had the mug at his lips and was taking a sip. He recoiled instantly and exclaimed, “Hot! Hot! Ohh, much hotter than I thought it was!”

Rayla snorted and hopped up to sit on her bed, grabbing her own mug to cradle in her hands. “I handed you a hot mug, dummy, of course the contents are hot too. At least you’re more awake now.”

He blew on the tea for a few seconds, then opted to wait for it to cool down before he tried drinking it, and looked up at Rayla in the meantime. “I hope I didn’t keep you up last night.” Stifling another yawn, he added, “I’m not sure what time I went to sleep.”

“Hope it wasn’t too late.” Rayla narrowed her eyes at him. “If I did all this for you just so you can blow it by not sleeping, I won’t forgive you. I’ll never feed you Easy Mac again.”

Callum laughed and looked at his phone, absently telling her, “It was probably one or two.” He grinned at something on the screen, typed out a text, and put it back down, explaining, “My friend Claudia. We’ve been friends for years. You saw her briefly, the day I, uh, tripped over Zym and you helped me with my stuff.”

Rayla hardened, casting a glare into her mug before taking a sip. The tea was still too hot for comfort, but she did it anyway. “The dark magic major.”

“Yeah,” he replied casually, as though he didn’t see a problem with it. “And let me tell you, she’s been trying so hard to get me to switch my major to dark magic for as long as I’ve been here, but it’s not my thing.”

Scoffing, Rayla repeated, “‘Not your thing’?” How could it be  _ anyone’s  _ thing? “That’s your only stance on dark magic? What, it’s fine if someone else wants to use another being’s life force to do magic, but it’s just  _ not your thing _ ? Looks like you’ll just have the  _ worst _ time adjusting when Viren merges the primal and dark magic departments and experiments on the dragons. It’ll be so hard for you because it’s  _ not your thing _ .” She rolled her eyes, sneering. Maybe Runaan was right about humans using magic. It was stupid of her to think that Callum would be different just because of his interest in primal over dark magic. Humans were all the same when it came to their opinions on dark magic.

“What?” Callum sounded genuinely confused at her accusation. “Rayla, no, that’s not what I think. Dark magic is wrong, and I don’t like that Claudia is studying it, but she’s my friend. She knows what I think about dark magic, and why I think that way, but what she studies is her choice, it’s not my call to make. All I can do is not mess with dark magic, and  _ protect _  the dragons, because no one wants Professor Viren anywhere near Zym. I phrased it wrong, I didn’t mean that it’s just not my thing - I hate dark magic, and want nothing to do with it. But people who use it are going to justify it in their own eyes so they don’t feel bad, and when they do that, there’s no changing their minds. So yeah, I’m friends with Claudia, but that doesn’t mean I like what she or her dad do.” He slumped against the wall, sipping his tea as he seethed.

Rayla gaped for a moment, not sure how to reply to him, and mentally scolding herself for jumping to conclusions. She finally said, “Sorry. I, uh...I guess I shouldn’t have assumed.” Tracing the rim of her mug with her finger, she considered whether it was worth it to continue. After such an outburst, explaining was the least she could do to apologize. “My uncle, he can...he can get in my head about humans and magic. He’s always telling me to be careful of humans who use magic, that they’re all the same, that they don’t care about the ethics of magic. Guess he tries to tell me that a little too often.” She offered him a weak, apologetic smile.

He met her eyes and nodded. “I get it. My aunt is the same way. She’s not happy that I’m learning primal magic. She would be pissed if she found out that I’m hanging out with an elf. It took me a while to break away from her racist mindset.”

Relaxing, Rayla replied, “I’m glad you did. Maybe you should come and teach your ways to my brother and sister.” She regretted it the moment the words left her mouth.  _ Sure, Rayla, he just spent the night, and now you’re inviting him to meet your racist family! Great idea! _

“Nah,” He said with a chuckle. “It’d be Ezran who could teach them way better than I could. If there’s any situation where someone can learn something, Ezran’ll be the one teaching. He’s way smarter and kinder than I am.”

Rayla laughed. “So the opposite of my siblings. They’re pubescent terrors.”

“Weren’t we all?” He grinned for a moment. “You’re a pretty progressive elf. And that’s not me trying to talk down to elves, it’s me glad that there’s someone who isn’t disgusted at my presence in a primal classroom.”

“I’m disgusted by everyone’s presence, but go off, I guess.”

They laughed together, and Rayla’s heart skipped a beat. His laugh was so genuine, and so relaxed. Rayla only wished she could feel as relaxed as he did. 

They finished their tea in relative silence before Callum helped himself to an apple sitting on top of the microwave, and decided to turn his attention to his textbook again. Rayla snatched the book from him and opened it to the correct chapter.

“I’ll quiz you,” she told him.

He nodded, and she went through all the review questions, trying to silently answer them herself before he had the chance. She usually had at least the right idea, and Callum expanded on each one, going through the context Rayla had given him, and the historical importance discussed in class. He had retained everything they’d gone over the night before, and despite his anxiety, Rayla was sure that he was going to get the highest grade in the class.

Tossing the book onto the extra bed, Rayla hopped up and said, “You’ll do fine. I’m gonna get changed, then we’ll go to class soon, yeah?”

Callum sucked in a breath, but nodded again. Rayla grabbed a fresh set of clothes and headed down the hall to change in the bathroom. As she passed by the mirror over the sink, a tinge of color caught her eye. She turned her attention to the mirror and a cold dread filled her - the color she saw was radiating from her own cheeks, flushed too red to be ignored. 

“ _ No _ ,” she hissed at her own reflection, glaring as though it would make it go away. Pointing an accusing finger at the mirror, she whispered, “Not only do you barely know him, but you know that it’s a bad idea in every sense of the phrase. He’s not even a friend, he’s a classmate, he’s - he’s a tutor, he helps with history. But he is  _ not _  the one you’re going to fall for this time.”

Her cheeks stubbornly remained red, as though taunting her, letting her know that this was a losing battle. She huffed and stepped into a stall, slamming the door behind her. She just needed to get changed, retrieve the dumb human in her room, and go take a stupid test. Only today, and  _ only _  because it was a test ( _ not _  because she was with Callum) would she be on time for class. Next class, she would be back to being four minutes late.

She stalked back into her room, threw her pajamas into her laundry basket, and turned on Callum, sternly telling him, “It’s time to go.”

Bewildered, he looked from her to his phone for the time, and started to say, “But class doesn’t start for another-”

“You want to get there early, don’t you?” She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back and avoiding her horns to tie it into a bun. “You’re a try-hard who always likes to be early, it’s good to study in classrooms, and you like to please Lujanne. So let’s  _ go _ .”

Callum conceded and stood, gathering his things and putting on his shoes. He pulled his wrinkled button-up on over his tee shirt. Paired with the messy hair, he looked like a disheveled disaster. She sighed, taking pity on him, and reached into a drawer to extract a hairbrush and handed it to him.

“You’re a mess,” Rayla informed him. “It’s already suspicious enough that we’re walking into class together.”

He quickly ran the brush through his hair and tossed it aside before they left the room and made their way into the cool September air, trekking across campus to get to the proper building. It wasn’t a long walk. It couldn’t have been more than just a few minutes. They made no stops. It would have been one of the easiest walks to avoid running into anyone they knew.

Of course they would be spotted in that time.

“CALLUM!”

Rayla tensed as she heard someone running toward them. They both turned, and she watched Callum brighten as he saw the blond senior. If she remembered correctly, this was the dark magic major’s older brother. Yay.

“Callum,” he repeated, catching up to them. “Claudia did the  _ stupidest _  thing last night, I’ve got to show you a video.” He cast a quick glance to Rayla, then seemed to come to a realization that made him stop and reevaluate them. “Huh.” With a nod toward where they’d come from, he pointed out, “The only thing on that side of campus is dorms. And, you know, I could have sworn I saw you in that exact outfit yesterday, Callum.” A wicked grin spread across his face. “Looks like somebody-”

“No, Soren, she helped me study,” Callum cut him off. “I was on campus late, and Rayla saved me a couple hours of sleep by letting me use her extra bed.”

Soren rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You’re boring. But you gotta see this video, Claudia’s such a dumbass.” He unlocked his phone again.

Shaking his head, Callum said, “Send it to me. I’m sure it’s really funny and she probably messed up a spell in the best way possible, but I’m on my way to take a test.”

“Fine,” Soren sighed dramatically. “I expect help making fun of her later.”

“You got it.”

Soren jogged off to who knows where, and Rayla began to walk toward the class building again.

“I think you two would get along,” Callum mentioned. “Soren’s...not  _ smart _ , but he’s definitely a lot of fun, doesn’t like magic, and teasing people is one of his favorite things.” He nudged her in the side with his elbow. “Sounds like someone else I know.”

Rayla snorted. “Sounds like I would enjoy making fun of him more than I would actually hanging out.”

He shrugged with a grin. “Probably.”

They reached the class building and made their way up to the second floor, taking their usual seats on the far side of the room to cram in a few more minutes of studying. The looks they got as students filed in weren’t the same ones Rayla usually saw Callum get. Instead, the other students looked confused, some looked judgmental. The most priceless face was Lujanne’s when she saw Four-Minutes-Late Rayla sitting in her seat fifteen minutes early. For the test. Not for Callum.

(Maybe for Callum.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [My Tumblr, for all your memeing needs.](https://little-red-alchemist-of-doom.tumblr.com/)


	4. Moonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While on a school break, Callum and Rayla video chat and introduce each other to their siblings.

Tossing his phone to the side, Callum sighed and refocused on his drawing. He had week-long break from classes, and there wasn’t anything he needed to be doing, yet he felt restless, like there was something he was missing or waiting for, or like there was something he needed to be doing. That nagging feeling kept leading him back to looking at his phone, devoid of notifications.

What was he waiting for?  _ Who _  was he waiting for? Why couldn’t he focus on his sketchbook? And why did it feel so important to him?

He tried to shake the thoughts away and continue scratching his pencil over the paper, adding detailing to his mother’s favorite sweater. Usually, sketching could take his attention away from anything. Yet his eyes drifted back to his dormant phone.

Ezran flopped down onto the couch, making Callum jump.

“Relax,” he said. “It’s just me, avoiding the homework I still have to do and envying you as you have a break.”

Callum let out a light laugh and replied, “High school gets way more breaks than college does. They’re just timed differently. Trust me, when you’re in college, you’ll be envying the high schoolers.”

“I know.” Ezran scooted closer and peeked at Callum’s sketch. “I think your drawings of Mom do her a better justice than any of the pictures we have. You always make her look so much more alive.”

He took his hand away from the paper and tried to look at it from another perspective. He’d drawn her laughing. Her eyes were closed, one hand in front of her mouth while the other held a mug. As Callum remembered her, she always had a mug of tea, and always made the best jokes.

“I guess there are some things that don’t get captured in pictures,” Callum said quietly.

Ezran leaned his head on Callum’s shoulder as he continued his drawing. This was Callum’s favorite part of commuting: he got to spend more time like this with Ezran. Quiet moments with his brother when they could just be.

Callum nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone vibrated with a text notification.

Snickering, Ezran teased, “Skittish today, huh? What, is your phone gonna attack you? Or are you just waiting on a text from Claudia?” A groaning Bait waddled into the room, pawing at Ezran’s leg.

Callum shook his head, a smile spreading on his lips as he unlocked his phone. “It’s not Claudia, it’s Rayla.”

“The girl who let you stay overnight?”

“For studying!” Ezran didn’t seem to care and busied himself with plucking Bait up off the floor to sit in his lap.

Callum tapped the notification and saw a picture from her. It was a blurry image of what was probably the moon. 

**_Rayla:_ ** _ pop quiz, tell me what rituals the ancient mages would perform under this phase of the moon _

**_Rayla:_ ** _ gotta keep you sharp while we’re not in class _

**_Rayla:_ ** _ impress lujanne with how much you retained _

Callum chuckled and zoomed in on the picture of the moon, then glanced outside. She had definitely just taken a lazy picture through her window of the current phase of the moon. 

**_Callum:_ ** _ Trick question! The moon’s next to useless tonight because it’s waning. If it was in the same position but waxing, the mages would’ve used the power to enchant charms to enhance their illusions. _

He felt a sense of pride as he sent the text with the knowledge that he was absolutely going to ace this class. He hadn’t gotten a perfect score on the test Rayla had helped him study for, but it was pretty close. And though he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he knew that he had surprised and impressed Lujanne, and that excited him almost as much as the content of the class did.

A typing bubble popped up for Rayla, disappeared, and popped up again. That repeated a few times before she replied with one word.

**_Rayla:_ ** _ nerd _

Callum laughed out loud, startling Ezran and Bait, and started tapping out another text.

“Ah,” Ezran said, more to Bait than to Callum. “That’s why he was jumpy. He was waiting for Rayla to text him.”

Suddenly aware of his reactions to her texts, Callum immediately locked his phone and turned his attention back toward Ezran. “What? If you’re implying what I think you are, the answer is no, Rayla’s my friend. She’s really cool, and fun to be around. Of course I’m happy she texted me, we’re friends, and I don’t get to see her while she’s at home!”

Ezran rubbed Bait’s head and shrugged. “Okay, but you don’t get that jumpy and excited when anyone else texts you.”

“That’s because the only other people who text me are Claudia and Soren.” His phone buzzed again, lighting up with a message from Claudia. “Speaking of, look who just texted me.”

**_Claudia:_ ** _ Help _

**_Claudia:_ ** _ Soren’s decided to drop out of school and become a beekeeper _

**_Claudia:_ ** _ You need to help me convince him not to do this _

**_Claudia:_ ** _ He graduates next semester, he can’t just throw it away to be a beekeeper on a whim _

**_Claudia:_ ** _ He’s allergic to bees, Callum _

**_Claudia:_ ** _ Please help me, he’s doing actual research on this _

Callum snorted and showed the thread to Ezran, insisting, “See, Ez? That’s funny, and I’m very excited to be getting these texts.”

“Hmm.” Ezran looked at him and flatly stated, “Interesting that you feel the need to justify that you were excited to get a text from your new friend.”

He wanted to retort - opened his mouth to sass him - but nothing came out. Callum clamped his mouth shut again and set his phone to the side so he could continue his drawing, but only a few seconds passed when his phone was lighting up again (no one was paying him any attention ten minutes ago, why did everyone think that it was a good idea to text him all at once?). It took all of his willpower not to dive for his phone when he saw that it was a video call from Rayla. Instead, he calmly accepted the call.

“Hey Rayl - uh.”

He was met with screaming, and her video was blurred, moving quickly as though she was running with it in her hand. But when it was still for just long enough for Callum to see a face, it was not Rayla’s. The face was younger, and the hair was brown, with similar purple markings on their face.

“LEDA, I SWEAR, IF YOU DON’T GIVE THAT BACK, YOUR DEATH WILL BE FEATURED ON BUZZFEED UNSOLVED.”

“IS THAT A PROMISE?”

Well. The first voice was definitely Rayla’s. Her younger sister must have stolen her phone.

“THEY WILL  _ NEVER _  FIND YOUR BODY. GIVE ME MY PHONE!”

“BUT I WANT TO MEET YOUR BOYFRIEND!” Leda stopped for just long enough to let the camera rest on her face. She gave a friendly smile and a wave. “Hi, Callum!”

“FOR THE TWELFTH TIME, HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND.”

The feed blurred again, Leda shrieked, and when Callum could see what was going on again, it looked as though Rayla had emerged victorious, her phone back in her hand.

“Sorry, Callum,” she said, smoothing her hair and ignoring her sister’s wails of pain. “If it’s a bad time, I can just text you -”

Callum burst into laughter. He knew that Rayla could be aggressive and that she was raised in martial arts (it was kind of hard to ignore when she had nearly beaten him up in the library), but he had never considered what that would be like when paired with the chaotic energy of a fourteen year old. He was sure that it only got crazier when Daelan was participating too.

“That was great,” Callum told her when he caught his breath, grinning widely. “Leda seems like a force to be reckoned with. Here.” He turned his phone to get Ezran into frame. “This is my brother Ez. And there, on his lap, is his glow toad Bait.”

Rayla grinned. “A sweet, peaceful brother who’ll sit on the couch with you and his toad, causing no trouble or damage at all. Wonder what that’s like.”

The most innocent smile on his lips, Ezran replied, “All the damage I do is internal.”

Snorting, Rayla said, “I like you. Make sure to torture your brother for me as much as you can, yeah?”

“Oh, I will.”

Callum sighed, knowing exact the brand of torture he would be getting from Ezran.

“While we’re on,” Rayla continued, taking them through the house, “Daelan’ll want to meet you. He saw some of your drawings on Instagram, and he wants to know all about your artistic process, learn from you if he can. Though, he’ll never tell you that.” She stopped and knocked on a door. “Dael, come meet my artist friend Callum.” Turning back to her phone, she asked, “Are you working on anything right now?”

Callum nodded. “Yeah, I was doing a drawing of my mom.” He flipped the camera and showed her the sketchbook in his lap.

“Good, Daelan will be excited to see it.”

He heard the door creak open, and a boy with messy hair the same shade of brown as Leda’s appeared, looking tired and annoyed. Callum wasn’t sure if the dark circles under his eyes were part of his purple markings, or if he just hadn’t slept in a while.

“ _ What _ , Ray?” He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes into a glare.

“Meet my friend.” She held her phone out to him, and Callum quickly switched the camera back around so he could wave.

“Hey, I’m-”

“A giant dork,” Ezran cut him off. “He’s a giant dork, and Callum’s gonna try to tell you that he’s cooler than he is, and he’s just casually a great artist, but he has a Jerkface Dance he does when he owes me an apology, and some nights, I would wake up at like, three in the morning, and hear him crying because he couldn’t draw hands.”

Pointing an accusing finger, Callum sternly told him, “You know exactly how hard hands can be to draw.  _ But _ ,  like all things, it gets easier with hard work!” It would have been much easier to try to appeal to Daelan’s interests if Ezran hadn’t decided to ruin it.

Daelan smirked. “A universal artistic experience.”

“Yes, exactly!” He elbowed Ezran. “See? It happens to the best of us.”

“Well,” Rayla began, her tone teasing. “I dunno about the  _ best _ …”

“Hey, I thought you were on my side!”

She flashed him a wicked smile. “Bold of you to assume I’m on anyone’s side but my own.”

The four bickered through Callum’s showing his drawing to Daelan, Ezran nitpicking and Rayla taking every available opportunity to tease both Callum and Daelan. Apparently, Callum realized, it was a mistake to think it would be a good idea to introduce Ezran and Rayla, because it quickly became their new favorite thing to gang up on him and tease him for everything he had ever done in his life. Daelan was unfortunately not as witty as his older sister, which made it difficult to team up with him and get back at them.

“Boys?”

Callum turned to the doorway and acknowledged, “What’s up, Dad?”

Harrow stepped into the room and said, “I have a job interview in the morning, so I’ll need to be getting to bed and I need to ask you to keep it down.”

“Oh - sure thing.” He turned to his phone. “Hey, Rayla, I’ve got to-”

“Is this the infamous Rayla?” Harrow asked, a teasing quality to his voice as he stepped closer to lean on the back of the couch and wave. He was visibly taken aback when he saw her horns and facial markings, but tried his best to cover it. “Nice to meet you. Callum’s told some great stories about you.”

“I’ve heard good things about you too,” Rayla replied. Callum could see the way she’d steeled herself. There was no way she hadn’t noticed the way Harrow hesitated upon realizing she was an elf. “Your son is a pain in my neck, though.”

Harrow let out a hearty laugh and said, “Mine too. Good to see he’s making friends with someone who can handle him.” He straightened and walked toward his room. “Alright, have a good night, kids.”

Quickly, Callum said to Rayla, “Hey, I gotta go, but I’ll text you tomorrow, okay? Miss you, have fun at home!” He ended the call and jumped up to follow Harrow down the hall. “Hey Dad?” When he had his father’s attention, he averted his gaze and muttered, “Maybe, uh...maybe don’t tell Aunt Amaya about Rayla? I just, uh, don’t know how she’ll react. She’s already not happy about me learning primal.”

Harrow offered an encouraging smile and put a hand on Callum’s shoulder. “You should never feel ashamed of who you’re close to. That’s your choice, not your aunt’s. And when you tell Amaya, that’s your choice as well. Rayla seems like a great girl, and that’s what matters.”

Callum let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and gave his dad a quick hug with a “Thanks,” before going back to the living room, where Ezran was falling asleep on the couch with Bait still in his lap. He picked his sketchbook back up and reclaimed his seat to continue drawing. The nagging feeling had subsided, but it was replaced by another that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with. It was almost a longing that drew his eyes toward the window to stare at the waning half moon. He knew that there was nothing magic-enhancing about it, but he couldn’t help but wonder how Rayla felt when she was under the moon. Did it feel like she was home? Did it feel like a sort of belonging? Did she feel more powerful, or more herself? Did she feel happy? Maybe she felt the way Callum felt when he was around her?

There was nothing magical about this phase of the moon, and Callum didn’t have a connection to the moon arcanum. But somehow, he sensed a connection to it anyway. Or maybe that connection was to Rayla.

Maybe he could tell Aunt Amaya about her. She really was a great friend, and she was one that Callum wanted to keep around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Come say hi to me on Tumblr!](https://little-red-alchemist-of-doom.tumblr.com/)  
> (The lack of heart next to Claudia's name is intentional)


	5. Illness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla has doubts about her friendship with Callum.

“Nooo.”

Throwing her arm over her face, Rayla whined and tried her hardest to ignore the text. Her stomach tied itself into knots, sending her brain all kinds of signals she didn’t want to deal with. Could he have picked anything worse to say?

**_Callum:_ ** _ There’s a free movie showing on campus today! They’ve got good popcorn and everything. Wanna go with me? _

Okay, so maybe it was sweet of him to invite her. Maybe she really did want to go, and maybe it brightened her day to see his name flash on her phone. Maybe she wanted nothing but to throw on a jacket and go meet up with him immediately. But maybe that wasn’t a good idea.

Things had been different since they had come back from break. Callum hadn’t picked up on it, but she had. She felt stiffer around him, had missed a class just so she wouldn’t have to sit next to him. It wasn’t like she had stopped talking to him or was trying to cut him off. They still texted, hung out around campus, sent each other memes, but Rayla couldn’t help but keep him at arm’s length.

She had tried not to let Callum’s dad’s reaction phase her the night they video chatted, but he was obviously surprised and not necessarily happy to find out that she was an elf. When they had video chatted again two days later, Rayla had heard Ezran warning Callum that their aunt Amaya was home, and Callum promptly ended the call. She would be lying if she said that didn’t hurt. She had never done anything to hide him from her uncle Runaan, and while it didn’t go over well with him, she didn’t regret it. Of course Runaan was upset that she was friends with a human, and one learning magic, at that. He didn’t care that Callum was learning primal, and didn’t want to hear about his opinions on dark magic. He had been angry with Rayla, enough that he ignored her nearly all break.

But Callum had decided to hide her instead of stand up and fight his aunt’s racism.

Did she really want to be around someone who decided that the best plan was to hide his friends from someone who might disapprove? Did her opinion matter so much more than a friendship? She would be among the first to remind anyone just how important family is, but she would also be the first to say that this stupid animosity between elves and humans needed to end. It would never end if people acted like Callum was.

She picked up her phone and texted him back.

**_Rayla:_ ** _ can’t :/ i don’t feel well, my stomach’s messed up _

It wasn’t necessarily a lie. Her stomach was doing flips and was telling her that she needed to get her feelings in check and figure out exactly what she was going to do besides avoid him.

Homework seemed like a pretty good solution for avoiding thinking about it at all.

Rayla picked up her literature review sheet and opened her computer to get the PDF of whatever they had just finished reading. Probably Shakespeare? Yes, definitely Shakespeare. She propped her worksheet up on her leg to read the first question.

 

  * __Why do Romeo and Juliet feel the need to hide their relationship, when the knowledge of their love is what ends the Capulet-Montague feud?__



 

And she was done with homework.

She closed the PDF and opened Instagram to idly scroll through. She did follow Callum, but he posted infrequently enough that she didn’t think she would have to worry about coming across him on her feed and being forced to think about the whole situation again.

Yet her scrolling was brought to a grinding halt when she saw that for once, he  _ did _ post just a couple hours before. For most anything he could have posted, she would have just left a like and scrolled on by. But this…

With the caption, “ _ Life is to short to not take risks _ ,” he had posted a drawing. A sketch, really. It was done with disconnected lines and lighter strokes than the other pieces of his she’d seen. It looked hesitant. Yet he had done it, and he had put it out for the world to see. He had drawn her, one eyebrow raised, a smirk on her lips and coffee in her hand.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked at the drawing. She didn’t even know that he had done it. It was normal to look through his Instagram and see drawings of his friends and family. There were plenty of Ezran, some of Soren and Claudia, and several of his parents. And now...now there was one of her. Did he really consider himself that close of friends with her? Sure, they had been hanging out a lot, but Rayla assumed that it didn’t mean quite as much to him as it meant to her. After all, wasn’t he hiding her?

Now he was posting a drawing of her on his Instagram for all to see. Was that the risk? Announcing their friendship without shame? Was  _ she _ his risk? Or maybe the risk was posting a rough sketch instead of a finished piece?

Possibilities flowed through her mind faster than she could process them. All she could understand was what was right in front of her: the drawing he had actually done with his own hands, then posted for the world to see.

A knock sounded at her door and she jumped, nearly dropping her laptop on the floor. She quickly closed it and set it on her desk, bounding over to the door and peeking through the hole to see a brown-haired dork, grinning like an idiot with his arms completely full.

Rayla opened the door, snickering. “What, you think you’re moving in?”

Callum didn’t wait for her to invite him in and stepped into her room, setting things down on the extra bed and taking off his jacket. “Since you’re not feeling well, I thought I’d bring the movie to you! I brought popcorn, couple other snacks, four movie choices, and I was going to pick up tea for you, but I don’t think anywhere around here has the tea you have in here - you said at one point that it was your favorite, so I didn’t want to get you anything that was  _ less _ than your favorite. Have you had tea already? Because I’m gonna make you some tea.” He picked up the kettle and moved back toward the door, pointing at the pile of things on the bed. “You pick which movie you want to watch while I get some water.”

She was left where she stood, gaping as he left the room. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks to tell her that she was absolutely done for. There was no hope for her now. This was the exact opposite of what she intended to happen, yet it seemed to be precisely what she wanted.

Absently, Rayla sifted through the movies to pick which one she wanted to watch - not in a big lecture hall full of students, but in the comfort of her room with her friend. Just as she chose one, Callum burst back into the room and turned on the hot plate for the kettle to prepare the tea.

“Good choice,” he commented upon seeing the movie in her hands. “I mean, all of them are good choices, I wouldn’t have brought them if they weren’t. But I was hoping you’d pick that one.” Gesturing to her bed, he insisted, “Sit down! You don’t feel well, let me take care of you!”

Her stomach clenched at his mentioning her lie. She easily could play it off that she felt as badly as he thought she did, but that just made her feel worse. Lying to him wasn’t pleasant - and lying to him because she wanted to avoid him was downright awful. It was nice to have him here, making her favorite tea, excited to spend the evening together, and she couldn’t deny that. She couldn’t deny it to either of them.

“Callum,” she said, easing herself onto her bed. “Look, I, uh…”

“You don’t have to eat the popcorn if it’ll make you feel worse,” he told her. “I think the tea would help though. And I did bring crackers if you need something bland. You do still need to eat, even if you’re nauseous.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not it. I’m just...Callum, I’m not really sick.”

He stopped and looked at her, confusion written on his face for a moment before he brightened again. “Oh, you’re feeling better? That’s great! We don’t have to go out though, I think a movie night here would be way better anyway.”

If he got any cuter, Rayla was sure that she was going to explode. He was so earnest and sweet, and she couldn’t handle it. “I never was sick. I…” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I was avoiding you.”

The way his face fell, his eyes downcast, made Rayla’s heart ache.

“Oh,” Callum said quietly, stepping back toward the things he brought. “I, uh...I can go. If that’s what you want. I didn’t mean to intrude or anything.” Quickly, he started gathering the three movies Rayla hadn’t picked, pulling his jacket back on. “You can keep the snacks, and I can get the movie from you another time if you still want to watch it, but I’ll just-”

“Callum,” Rayla interrupted him, a hand firmly on his shoulder. She dipped her head down to meet his averted eyes. “I was avoiding you, I won’t lie about that. But I do want you here. I’m sorry, it was stupid, and I shouldn’t have done that to you. It was for a dumb reason anyway.” Her hand drifted from his shoulder down to lightly grip his wrist and tug him toward her bed as she sat down. “Stay, and we can talk this out. It’s my fault, and you deserve an explanation.”

His eyes flicked up to look at her for just a moment, hesitating, before he relented and sat across from her, staring at the blankets between them. “Did I do something wrong?” Suddenly panicked, he became wide-eyed and asked, “Was it the drawing? Oh no, I knew I should have asked your permission before posting it. I’m so sorry, Rayla, I didn’t mean to upset you, I really liked how it turned out, even if it was just a sketch, and I-”

Rayla laughed, shaking her head and waving a hand in front of him. “No, that’s not it. The drawing is actually what made me realize I was wrong.” She sucked in a breath and dove in. “I was upset that you were hiding me from your dad and your aunt. And I know that your family’s more important to you than anything, but this friendship means a lot to me. My uncle was angry about you, but we’re never going to get people to see our point of view if we don’t make them angry.” As Callum opened his mouth to say something, she held her hand up to stop him. “And I was wrong about where you were coming from. You posted that drawing, and it was like you were telling the world to get over itself, that we’ll be friends anyway.” With a smile tugging at one side of her mouth, she asked, “Am I right?”

Callum nodded. “Yeah. I  _ did _ actually tell my aunt about you during break, when I hung up on you right after she got home - which, I know, was a dick move. And she was pissed, but I told her about you, and about how great you are, and that I’m lucky to have you as my friend. She’s still not happy, but what’s she gonna do about it? She can’t tell me who to be friends with, and her dumb opinions have no hold on me.  _ No one’s _ opinions should stop us from having something as good as our friendship. So let’s not let it.” He reached out and took her hand in his.

A warmth filled Rayla’s chest, swelling inside her and manifesting as a hint of a smile. “Okay. I’m sorry I tried to let anything get in the way of us. A friendship like this is new to me. I guess it’s a learning curve. Can you forgive me?”

“Maybe.” A playful smile on his face, he said, “I think Ez told you that he makes me do a Jerkface Dance when I need to apologize to him.”

Rayla shook her head. “He mentioned it, but I don’t know any Jerkface Dance, and thus cannot and  _ will _ not perform it.”

Callum shrugged. “Then I guess you’re not really sorry if you don’t do a dance.” He nudged her to get her to stand up. “Come on! You made me dance for you the first time you had me over!”

“And then I danced  _ with _ you, remember,” she groaned, getting to her feet.

Hopping up, Callum replied, “I never said I wouldn’t dance too. Just watch what I do, and your only job is to look stupider than I do.” He folded his arms and immediately started flapping them, bobbing his head like a chicken, and Rayla started laughing hard enough that she needed to hold onto the post of her bed to keep herself upright.

“You look ridiculous!” she said, holding her stomach with her free hand.

“And you will too!” Callum jumped over to her and bumped his elbow into her arm. “Dance, Rayla!”

Giggling, she let go of the bedpost and started kicking her legs as high as they would go, waving her arms about. She jumped and squatted down, waddling toward Callum as he backed away, stumbling over his own laughter. She toppled over and didn’t try to get up, instead laying on the floor, chuckling at their stupid antics.

Callum offered a hand to help her up. As she accepted, he said, “While it wasn’t a fully fledged Jerkface Dance, it was a good start, and I’ll accept it.” He softened and added, “And I accept your apology. Thank you, Rayla.”

She quickly turned away and plucked up the movie she’d picked. “So are we gonna watch the movie or what? The water should still be hot, pour yourself some tea, too, and I’ll stick the popcorn in the microwave. We’re gonna do this movie night  _ right _ .”

They both got to work, Callum retrieving the tea, and Rayla preparing the popcorn and putting the DVD in to watch on her TV. She angled it so they could sit on the extra bed and watch together, and when she’d poured the popcorn into a bowl, she shut off the lights and crawled over to sit close to Callum, accepting the mug he handed her as the movie began. 

She couldn’t pinpoint when it was that her head drifted to his shoulder. Or when it was that she stretched and shifted to lay on her side, her head in his lap. Or when he had started playing with her hair, giving her little braids. Or when she had fallen asleep. But when she woke up, Callum had shifted to lie down too and given her his arm to replace his leg as her pillow. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and as she looked up, she saw that his eyes were peacefully closed as he slept next to her.

Everything was quiet. It must have been really late if she didn’t hear any activity in the dorms, save for the DVD’s menu music playing on repeat. Part of her considered waking Callum up and telling him he should go home.

But did it really matter? Neither of them had class the next day, so there was no homework to worry about. There was nothing to worry about.

So she nestled closer to him, closing her eyes again and drifting back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Come say hi to me on Tumblr!](https://little-red-alchemist-of-doom.tumblr.com/)


	6. Scarf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum teaches Rayla to ice skate.

When Callum had texted Rayla that he had something fun for them to do, he expected her to be all for it. And she was, at first. They had done all sorts of fun, spontaneous things as the semester went on, sometimes dragging Ez along with them. They had driven around town until they found a patch of woods and decided to explore it, went to an obscure restaurant and dared each other to eat things they knew the other would hate, and had even gone on a full-day road trip on a whim to get what Rayla had declared to be the best ice cream in the country. They’d gone on all sorts of adventures, had all sorts of fun (she had skipped all sorts of classes). But apparently, this is where Rayla drew the line. 

Vigorously shaking her head, Rayla stepped away from the ice and insisted, “Not happening.”

“Come on!” Callum tugged at her wrist toward the pond. “It’s frozen! No swimming this time, I swear!”

Rayla pulled out of his grasp and backed up a few more steps. “You don’t know how thick that ice is. It hasn’t been cold for  _ that _ long, there’s no way you can tell that it’s solid. I’m staying right here.” She crossed her arms definitively.

With an exasperated sigh, Callum stomped a foot on the ice, ran out to the center and jumped hard, slipping and falling in the process. He laughed and called, “See, it’s fine, it’s not gonna break!”

Rayla narrowed her eyes and inched toward where Callum had set the two pairs of ice skates. She snatched the ones he’d brought for her and sat down on a bench covered with a dusting of snow, taking off her boots and exchanging them for skates.

“Yeah!” Callum cheered, running (slipping) back across the frozen pond toward her. He plopped down on the bench to put on his own skates. “You won’t regret this, it’ll be so fun!”

She cast a glare at him and threatened, “If that ice breaks and I end up in freezing water, I’ll drown you myself.”

Callum snickered. “I dare you to try.”

She scowled, tying off her skate and waiting for him to finish getting his own on. As they stood, Callum noticed her wobble, just the slightest bit.

“Have you never skated before?” he asked, smirking.

“Course I have,” she replied through gritted teeth, focusing way too hard on her feet to be telling the truth. “Just...out of practice.” She put a foot on the ice and immediately put a hand out to grab Callum’s arm for support.

He ground himself and kept his arm steady so she could get both feet on the ice without falling, then he stepped next to her with ease. Facing her, he took both of her gloved hands in his, holding onto her tightly, and pushed off to start gliding backwards, pulling Rayla with him. Her eyes widened and she leaned forward, holding onto his hands as though for dear life. While he knew that skating on a pond didn’t make for a smooth, easy surface for her first time (or at least first time in a while) skating, he was sure that she would be fine. 

Or maybe not.

She hit a bump in the ice and shrieked, pulling one hand away from Callum and flailing for a moment before she threw her arm around him. He laughed, trying to keep both of them stable, and helped her regain her footing.

“You good?” he asked, supporting her with an arm around her waist.

Rayla nodded, though he could tell from her trembling that she was absolutely terrified to be out on the ice. Maybe he shouldn’t have convinced her to skate with him. The last thing he wanted to do was force her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with.

She straightened, her hands going back into his, and gave him a smile that was hesitant, but determined. “Let’s go again. I want to keep trying.”

“Are you sure?” Callum’s eyebrows knit together, looking her tense, nervous posture in concern. “We don’t have to. If you’re really not comfortable skating, we can just go get hot chocolate or tea and you could come over and we can play video games or something, it’s no big deal.”

Almost as though she felt challenged, she took her hands away and held her arms out for balance, pushing herself carefully along the ice. Callum skated beside her, ready to catch her if she happened to stumble again or start to fall, which she instantly made more difficult by putting distance between them. He chuckled, chasing after her. She was going to fall on her face and refuse to let him help her up, he could just see it.

When she stumbled and nearly fell again, Callum caught her waist just in time, pulling her close and helping her right herself.

“Are you gonna let me help?” he teased.

Her cheeks were red, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold or because she was embarrassed that she was bad at skating. 

“Fine,” she relented, pushing away from him and holding onto his shoulders for stability. “I maybe don’t know the exact mechanics of...how to ice skate.”

Trying his hardest to suppress the smile he felt, Callum replied, “I’ll help you out with that and make sure that you don’t fall. Just take my hand.” He held his hand out to her and let the smile break through, encouraging instead of teasing.

She looked between his eyes and his hand once or twice, like she was deciding whether or not to accept. It took her a few seconds, but she placed her hand in his, firmly lacing their fingers together. Callum couldn’t help but notice that her four fingers fit perfectly in the spaces of his. His heart swelled at the fact that they fit so well together in every way.

He showed her the proper footwork, the way to push off with one foot and keep the other straight; he taught her how to lean into a turn without feeling like she would fall over; he walked her through how to stop and how to keep herself centered. Not once did he let go of her hand as he taught her. They held fast to each other, and just as he promised, he didn’t let her fall. 

“You’re getting it!” he told her as she started to glide over the ice. “You’re doing great!” Loosening his grip on her hand, he asked, “Do you want to try by yourself again?”

She held tighter. “No.”

Callum’s heart skipped a beat.

“Do you usually skate with your family?” Rayla asked, taking a bit of her attention away from her feet.

“Yeah,” Callum replied, thinking back to when he was little, slipping around on the ice and holding his mother’s hands. “My mom taught me how. I used to skate with my parents all the time. My aunt Amaya wouldn’t go because she couldn’t get the hang of it. But even with Ez, my dad had him on the ice from the moment he could walk. We don’t skate together that much anymore, though.” Brushing his thumb over the back of Rayla’s hand, he added, “So I’m glad that I get to skate with you. Thank you for being willing to learn. This is nice.”

She offered a gentle smile and a nod. “It is nice. Thanks for convincing me.”

Callum opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t get a chance. Something cold hit him in the back of the head, making him jump and yelp, losing his balance. His feet slipped out from under him, and he didn’t have time to let go of Rayla’s hand to at least keep her upright. He accidentally pulled her down with him, both of them hitting the ice with a  _ thud _ .

“What was  _ that _ ?” Rayla shouted, looking around frantically for the source of whatever hit Callum.

A laugh sounded behind them and Callum tipped his head back to see Claudia approaching them, leaving Soren behind as he continued chuckling, forming another snowball.

“You guys okay?” Claudia asked, extending her hand.

Callum accepted her help and got back up to his feet, going to one side of Rayla while Claudia went to the other. Rayla’s face was bright red and she looked annoyed to be receiving so much help, but they helped her get back upright anyway.

“Thanks,” Callum said, turning back to Claudia. He pointed at Soren, who was making his way over. “Not you. Headshots when your opponent can’t see you is playing dirty.”

“Don’t sugar-coat it,” Rayla chimed in, elbowing him gently in the side. “A headshot when you weren’t looking, were on ice, and were supporting someone else. I think that’d be a red card in...whatever sport you play.”

Claudia snorted as Soren, disgruntled, muttered, “It’s called hockey.” Callum grinned, glad to see his friends getting along.

“Oh!” He put a hand on Rayla’s shoulder. “You haven’t been properly introduced, have you? Rayla, this is Soren and Claudia, two of my oldest friends.”

“I met Callum when we were put in the same English class in middle school,” Claudia said, a reminiscent smile on her face. “He was  _ maybe _ twelve at the time, and the most awkward little thing. Braces, hadn’t had a single growth spurt yet, thought he could beat Soren in soccer. You should’ve seen it.”

Callum felt the tell-tale redness in his cheeks at the reminder that Soren and Claudia had been in his life through the most embarrassing phases possible. He was used to feeling his face flush every so often when he was around Claudia, but never about this topic. Why was that so embarrassing now? While he didn’t particularly enjoy looking back at those times in his life, it wasn’t like he was the only person with embarrassing middle school memories. He was sure that Rayla had stories of her own that were just as humiliating. Plus, Claudia might have been there for his middle school days, but he was also there for  _ hers _ . He had seen just as much embarrassment, just as many blunders as she had. Usually, things like this weren’t a big deal to him.

But this time, it was. He didn’t want to be forced to think about every stupid thing he had ever done, he didn’t want to hear Soren and Claudia and Rayla all laughing at his middle school days together. He wasn’t that person anymore, he was different, and he wanted Rayla to know that he was different. He had grown up so much since then and he’d learned so many things, and he knew in his head that he was different, he was  _ more _ than he was back then, but...was he truly? He was still Callum. Did that mean that he was still just the dorky, embarrassing kid who had done all sorts of stupid things when he was twelve and didn’t have the ability to speak like a normal human being to Claudia? Did it even matter that he’d learned to talk to her? Was he always going to be that stupid kid to everyone? Even to Rayla?

A soft feeling around his neck jolted him back to reality. He looked down to see a red scarf around his neck, connected to a pair of hands that led to Rayla, a concerned look on her face.

“You okay?” she asked quietly, wrapping her scarf around him. “You sort of froze up there, you were shaking. We can go inside if you’re cold, or if you need a minute.”

His stomach did a flip and he couldn’t quite place the warm feeling in his chest. He wasn’t too cold, just...foggy. Soren and Claudia had seen him spiral into panic enough times that they knew not to overwhelm him with questions, and he had told Rayla that he had the occasional panic attack. She was gentle with him, her touch comforting, but talking about middle school was never something that gave him panic attacks before. What was so different this time?

As he took a deep breath, he caught Rayla’s scent on the scarf: sweet and woodsy. It seemed to make everything settle in his mind. Rayla’s presence, Rayla’s touch, Rayla’s scent, it all came together to slow his thoughts and bring him back to the present and fill his heart with-

_ Oh _ .

“Uh.” He blinked at his friends, all looking at him, waiting for him to tell them what he needed. Focusing on Rayla, he could feel himself furrow his brow. How long had he felt like that? How long had her opinion mattered so deeply to him? When had he first noticed how nice she smelled, or the soft look in her eyes when she let her walls down?

“Callum?”

Claudia laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and he snapped his attention to her. There was something like understanding on her face as she smiled and said, “Go warm up. Text me if you need me, okay?”

With a nod, he said, “Yeah. Okay.” He only realized that his hand was absently searching for something at his side when he felt Rayla’s hand back in his.

“I’ll take care of him,” Rayla assured them.

Scoffing at their intertwined hands, Soren commented, “You guys are gross.”

Callum started to stutter out a reply, a defense, a denial, something, but Rayla leaned her head on his shoulder and teasingly said, “Yeah, we are. We do gross things like watching movies, studying, and finding good ice cream.” She straightened to make eye contact with Callum. “Speaking of, what do you say we go find some good hot chocolate now?”

He released a breath, and with it, leftover tension from his panic, letting a smile take its place. “That sounds nice.”

They waved to Soren and Claudia, turning to the bench where they’d left their shoes. Rayla wobbled several times between the center of the pond and solid ground, but managed to remain upright. They took their time changing from ice skates to shoes, and headed toward the commuter parking lot to put the skates in Callum’s car and get off campus to search for hot chocolate.

The whole way, Callum’s mind was trained on the realization he never expected to have.

He was in love with Rayla. He had been since that first dance in her room, and he hadn’t even known. But now here she was, her cheeks and nose pink from the cold, a beanie on her head that had a hole that one of her horns had poked in it, and her scarf was around his neck, warming him and letting him hold onto the wonderful way she smelled, and he wasn’t sure how he had missed it before. It had been her the whole time, and there was no one else with whom he would rather be in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Come say hi to me on Tumblr!](https://little-red-alchemist-of-doom.tumblr.com)


	7. Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla tells Callum and Ezran a secret.

Callum strode out of his ancient Draconic final with his shoulders back and head high. It was the one final he felt like he actually aced. As much as Rayla teased him for how boring she thought learning a dead language was, he enjoyed what came to him as an easy A.

He headed immediately toward the student union. Rayla had texted him that she was taking Ezran there to get something to eat, since he had a half day of school and Callum hadn’t had the time to bring him home and get back to campus in time for his final. Ezran easily could have stayed in the library for a couple of hours while Callum was in his test, but both Ez and Rayla had insisted that they hang out together, and there was no way he was going to argue against his two favorite people spending time with each other.

As he approached the union, he spotted them climbing the steps to enter the building. He picked up the pace and called after them, waving to get their attention.

“Well,” Rayla said playfully, crossing her arms. “Look who it is.”

Ezran crossed his arms as well, a mischievous smirk on his face. “Wouldn’t you know it?”

Callum stopped in his tracks, eyes narrowing as he looked between them. Carefully, he asked, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, Callum,” Rayla replied, a lilt in her voice. “Why don’t you tell us? What’s going on with  _ you _ ?”

He blinked, processing what she was asking, and determined that the only thing she could be talking about was the test. “I think I did really well in Draconic?”

Sighing, Rayla chuckled and shook her head, gesturing toward the doors. “Let’s go inside and get something to eat.”

“Actually, wait,” Callum interjected, catching Rayla’s wrist as she took a step away. With a grin, he suggested, “You should come over and hang out, we can eat at home. My dad’s cooking is way better than campus food.”

Rayla stiffened, looking between Callum and something over his shoulder. He turned to see what she saw, but there was nothing of interest. Confused, he shifted his attention back to her as she stepped from one foot to the other and avoided his eyes.

“I, uh…” she started, fiddling with the zipper on her coat. “I should stay on campus this evening. Y’know, I still have some packing to do to go home for winter break.”

He had been in her room earlier, and it was already mostly packed. “Runaan isn’t picking you up until Sunday, right? You’ve got time, and there’s not much more you need to do. I mean, if you don’t want to come over because of my aunt Amaya, she’s away for the weekend.”

“No, it’s not that.” She tugged at the zipper pull and stared at the ground.

“Then what is it?” Callum insisted, taking a step toward her. “Whatever it is, Rayla, you can tell me. If there’s something bothering you, or if you’re uncomfortable with anything, I want to help to fix it.”

Rayla looked to Ezran, almost as if she was pleading for help. What in the world had the two of them talked about?

“You can trust him, Rayla,” Ezran assured her. “You know you can trust him.”

“Trust me with what?” Callum asked, exasperated.

Rayla’s eyes followed other students passing by, and she said, “Not here,” while tugging Callum inside. He followed her, Ezran trotting alongside them, as she found a quiet, isolated spot where they wouldn’t be overheard.

As she sat down on the floor, she began, “You know the dragons that hang out around campus?” Callum nodded. “Tempest, and her baby Zym. Professor Viren in the dark magic department has been after them - especially Zym - forever. He wants to experiment with them or something. And there have been poaching incidents near campus, victimizing other magical creatures. So a bunch of us elves take turns checking in on Tempest and Zym to make sure they’re okay. Sometimes we bring the dragons some food, and we just hang out for a bit. It helps them feel safer, and gives us peace of mind, and absolutely no humans are supposed to know about it - so if you tell Soren and Claudia, I won’t be the only one who’ll want your head on a platter. But I  _ do _  trust you, and this evening is my turn to take care of them. I promised I’d bring them some fruit from the dining hall, play with Zym for a while. I have to be there for them, so I can’t go home with you.”

Callum sat back, processing the new information. Now that he thought about it, that day outside the library at the beginning of the semester, Rayla had been corralling Zym to get him back to his mother. He frequently saw elves hanging around the dragons, but it seemed so normal to him that he never thought anything of it.

“Okay,” he said at last. “So we’ll go to the dining hall and get some fruit. Ez and I could hang around while you spend time with Tempest and Zym, then we could go back to our place after, if you want.”

Ezran cast a glance to Rayla before saying, “Actually…we ran into them earlier, and I have permission from the dragons to come and see them with Rayla. And I’d really like to.”

Curse his inability to say no to Ezran. “Okay. I guess I’ll just...hang out in the library, then.” He couldn’t exactly hide his disappointment that they were going to go without him, but it wasn’t like it could be helped. Humans weren’t supposed to know, and Ezran had some sort of magical-psychic connection to be able to speak to animals and magical creatures. Of course they would make an exception for him.

“It’s nothing personal,” Rayla rushed to say. “We just don’t want to make the dragons feel unsafe, or like we’ve betrayed their trust.  _ I _  know that you’d never do anything to hurt them, but it’s however they’re comfortable.” She paused and offered a gentle smile. “I’ll text you, alright?”

“Yeah.” He forced himself to return her smile, standing up from the floor. “Come on, let’s go to the dining hall to grab some fruit for them.”

After Callum lost to Rayla over who would pay for Ezran’s food, the trio set their things down at a table and spent more time gathering fruit to put in Ezran’s bag than they did getting food for themselves. They ate and talked about how glad they were that finals were over (much to the upset of Ezran, who hadn’t even hit midterms).

Rayla and Ezran walked Callum to the library before they parted. He tried not to let his sadness show as they walked away. After all, he was happy that the dragons gave Ezran express permission to spend time with them. That was great, and it was even better that Rayla was involved in keeping Zym safe from poachers. Yet he ached to be walking alongside them and join their adventure on campus.

He tried to distract himself with his phone. Now that he finally had some down time and didn’t need to study all the time, he could afford to sit to the side of the library and just scroll through social media, smiling at comments he’d gotten on recent drawings. He stopped on his favorite drawing, the sketch of Rayla, to look at what people had said. It wasn’t his most popular drawing, but in his opinion, it was the best.

Looking at the sketch, he allowed himself to begin wondering. Had part of him known back then? It was the middle of October when he’d posted it; how did he not realize how he felt until nearly two months later? He knew what he had been doing, and even said with it that life was too short not to take risks. Was a declaration that he was proud of their friendship really all that he was getting at?

Either way, whether or not he knew in the back of his mind that he had fallen fast and hard for Rayla, at least he knew now. It had only been two weeks since he’d realized it, and the butterflies in his stomach were dying down, but he knew that this wasn’t something that was going to go away quickly. And if he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure he wanted it to go away.

His phone vibrated with a text, making him jump out of his thoughts of Rayla. He opened his phone to see that she had dropped a pin on her location and said only one thing.

**_Rayla:_ ** _ they want to meet you _

A grin broke through on his face and he quickly threw on his coat and bounded out of the library, receiving glares from the few students who still had to study. He followed the map on his phone leading him to Rayla’s location, the tucked-away dragon nest that no human on campus had ever seen. The nest to which the dragons had personally invited him.

When he got close to the secluded area in the trees, he slowed down, quieting his footsteps and moving softly to keep from spooking Tempest and Zym. They were trusting him. The last thing he wanted was to scare them and make them think that he couldn’t be trusted.

He ducked under a branch of a pine tree and came into a clearing. There was a pile of shiny knick-knacks stacked up, ranging from lost watches to an array of what were probably powerful magical objects. In front of the collection was Tempest, lounging peacefully as she watched Zym, who was batting at Ezran’s hands as they sat on the ground and played together. Rayla sat close to Tempest, a similar look of happiness and peace on her face that made Callum’s heart jump into his throat.

Stepping closer, he waved and said, “Hey. Thanks for inviting me.”

Ezran turned, his smile overflowing with joy. “Callum! Come play with me and Zym!”

“Come say hi to Tempest first,” Rayla suggested, nodding to the dragon at her side. “I told her about you. She’s eager to meet you.”

Callum did as he was told, approaching Rayla and Tempest, not quite sure if he should be doing anything in particular to make her feel safe. He briefly considered if he should sit down in front of her to make himself appear non-threatening, but reminded himself that she was a creature with intelligence beyond human understanding, and she had invited him into her home. If she felt even the slightest bit threatened, he wouldn’t be there.

“Hi,” he greeted quietly. “I’m Callum. Uh...thank you for asking me to come. I’m really honored.”

Tempest let out a low, happy sound and nudged him in the shoulder with her nose.

“She says she always had a good feeling about you,” Ezran informed him. “She knew you would visit her this semester, but she was just waiting for Rayla to vouch for you.”

Callum and Rayla both snorted, and he felt his face grow warm. 

“What, you been watching me?” Rayla asked, elbowing Tempest gently. “You could have just asked, ‘who’s that human you’ve been hanging around with and is he trustworthy?’”

Ezran snickered. “Tempest thinks that takes the fun out of watching you two tripping over yourselves about each other.”

“OKAY!” Rayla jumped up, turning Callum by the shoulder. “I don’t think you and Zym have formally met, right? Let’s introduce you to the baby, he’s always looking for new playmates, why don’t you play with Zym?”

Unsure of what else he possibly could do, Callum complied, sitting down by his brother. He held his hands out palms-up in front of him to let Zym inspect him and decide if he wanted to play with him or not. Zym completely bypassed the offer, leaping into Callum’s lap, climbing over his shoulders, hopping down, and trotting around him, chittering excitedly. Callum chuckled, taking a stray fork (probably stolen from the dining hall) that Ezran handed him. He threw it, and Zym bounded away to retrieve it.

“He’s like a puppy,” Callum commented with a grin as Zym dropped the fork on his knee, looking up at him with expectant blue eyes and a yip. He tossed the fork again and absently said, “I don’t know how anyone could want to hurt him.”

Rayla sat down next to him and replied, “Dark magic users will justify anything to themselves so they don’t feel bad about the terrible things they’re doing. So it’s our job to make sure that Tempest and Zym are protected.” 

Callum nodded, turning to Tempest. “If you want, I can drop in a few times a week over break. If you would be comfortable with that.”

Her response was somewhere between a whine and a chirp. From behind him, Ezran exclaimed, “Really?” and was promptly tackled by Zym. Laughing, Ez interpreted, “She says that would be great, and she wants me to come too!” He righted himself and continued, “There are some elves who commute and are gonna be checking on them, but Tempest and Zym say that they’d love for us to come hang out too!” Hugging Zym tightly, he continued laughing, spinning his new friend around.

This was nice, Callum thought as he backed away to let Ez and Zym keep playing. He sat with his back to the pile of dragon treasures, close to Tempest, and watched the scene, jovial and carefree.

He could count on one hand how many times he had seen Rayla so unabashedly happy. This was what she looked like when she didn’t have any stress on her shoulders, when she was able to relax and focus on something she enjoyed, surrounded by people and dragons that she loved. She was radiating delight so strongly that Callum could swear she was actually glowing. Her unrestrained smile was wonderful to look at. Callum felt a warmth in his chest as he watched her pretend that Zym had jumped on her with enough force to make her fall. He made a mental note that he needed to draw some of this later.

Tempest made a sound and looked between Callum and Rayla with a knowing look in her eye.

One hand going to his cheek to hide his blush, he used the other to wave away what he knew Tempest was getting at. “There’s no way she sees me like that. Besides, I’m perfectly happy being her friend.”

Tempest chittered, and upon looking at her, Callum saw that she was actually laughing at him. He sighed, shaking his head, but didn’t try to conceal the smile he had on his face while he watched Rayla play.

-

They did choose to go back to the boys’ house for the night. It was evening when they left campus, so Rayla made a stop in her room to pack an overnight bag, making Callum promise that he’d drive her back to campus in the morning so she could finish packing up her room and be ready for Runaan to pick her up.

Upon getting home, they quickly discovered that there was ice cream in the freezer, and after they all changed into their pajamas, the three curled up on the couch under a blanket to put on a movie and eat their ice cream. Ezran was asleep halfway through, and by the end of the movie, Rayla’s head was on Callum’s shoulder and he felt her fading into sleep as well.

Callum turned off the TV and nudged Rayla. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes, giving a sleepy smile that Callum was shocked didn’t kill him on the spot.

“I need to get Ez to bed,” he told her, standing and putting a hand on Ezran’s arm. “Hey. Let’s get you to your room, okay?”

Ezran groaned and lifted his head, processing what was going on before nodding and getting himself off the couch. He yawned and stretched, heading down the hall to his room as Callum cleaned up the ice cream bowls.

“You can sleep in my room tonight,” Callum offered. “I don’t mind sleeping on the couch. Or I can share with Ez.”

Rayla shook her head, running a hand through her messy white hair. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be comfortable out here.”

Returning to the her, Callum extracted his sketchbook from under the couch and sat back down. “It’s no problem, really. I want you to be comfortable.”

She lowered herself down to lay her head on his lap, pulling the blanket back over her. “I’m comfortable right here.” Sighing contentedly, she settled in and was asleep in seconds.

Callum’s heart was pounding in his chest. This was so different from the first time she’d fallen asleep in his lap like this. This was more gentle, and, dare he say it, more loving. He couldn’t help but let his fingers trail through her soft hair. She still had a braid that he’d put in her hair a week before. Whenever he did anything to style any part of her hair, she kept it for as long as she could. The little braids lasted longer than anything else he’d done, but whatever it was, it made him happy that she tried to hard to always keep it in.  _ She _  made him happy. She was wonderful and smart and funny, and there was no one else he wanted to spend all his time with. She filled him with warmth and surety, giving him peace when he felt anxious, giving him excitement when he felt dull, giving him affection and giving him love.

He stayed awake until he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore, spending the night filling his sketchbook that he’d propped on the armrest of the couch with drawings of Rayla playing with Zym and Ezran, Rayla laughing, Rayla peacefully sleeping on his lap. She was the only thing on his mind while he kept himself awake, and she was the only thing on his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Ezran totally dragged it out of Rayla that she's crushing on Callum)  
> [Come say hi to me on Tumblr!](https://little-red-alchemist-of-doom.tumblr.com/)


	8. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum and Rayla make pancakes.

When she woke, Rayla knew that her memory of where she fell asleep might be blurry, but she was very sure that she hadn’t fallen asleep here. She was in a bed, under soft covers. Upon opening her eyes, Rayla looked around the room. There was a bit of clutter around, but no worse than her own room. The blinds were open, showing her that there were large snowflakes were drifting down to the ground. There were clothes slung over a chair, and a sketchbook sitting on top of an open textbook. She figured this must be Callum’s room, despite being certain that she fell asleep on the couch right after insisting that she didn’t need to take his room. A warmth washed over her as she processed that Callum must have carried her into his room to let her use his bed. He was too sweet for her to handle.

A pleasant smell got her attention, and she slipped out of Callum’s bed to venture down the hall and find out from where the smell was originating. She followed it to the kitchen, where she found Callum, his back to her, wearing an apron and humming to the soft music he was playing as he fiddled with something over the stove.

“Morning,” Rayla greeted, rubbing her eyes. “What’re you making?”

Callum turned and beamed at her in spite of the marks of batter on his face, and Rayla’s knees nearly buckled under her at how cute he was.

“Rayla, good morning! I’m making some pancakes for us.” He bit back a laugh and gestured to his own head. “Your hair’s pretty stuck on your horns. Here.” Taking a pancake off the heat and placing it on a plate, he wiped his hands on his apron and stepped toward her, extending his hands and raising his eyebrows as though asking for permission to fix her hair. She ducked her head to give him better access, and hopefully, to hide her blush. His hands were gentle, untangling her hair and smoothing it down to keep it from getting caught on her horns again.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, following him as he returned to the stove. She hoisted herself up to sit on the counter and watch him pour more batter into the pan and wait as it cooked. “How do you know when it’s ready to be flipped?”

He looked up at her, the briefest look of confusion on his face. “Have you never made pancakes before?”

Shaking her head, she replied, “Runaan’s not exactly the baking type.”

“Come here.” Callum beckoned her with a wave of his hand, moving to the side so she would have room in front of the pan, and pointed at the irregular circle of batter. “Look, see how it’s forming little bubbles? When they’ve all popped, that means it’s ready to flip. You wanna try?” He held the spatula out to her.

Rayla hesitantly took the spatula, watching the batter as said bubbles broke, one by one. She glanced at Callum to see if he thought it was ready, and he nodded, putting his hand gently over hers and guided her, wedging the spatula under the pancake to make sure it could be lifted all at once.

With a cheeky grin, he said, “Here comes the fun part. You’ve gotta be fast.”

Nodding, Rayla set her jaw and gripped the spatula tightly, readying herself. She lifted the pancake and whipped it around. Which she must have done a little too fast, as batter from the uncooked side of the pancake splattered outside the pan, hitting her in the face. She yelped in surprise, jumping back.

Callum laughed, his hand moving to her shoulder. “That went better than my first time flipping a pancake. Usually, it falls apart. You just got some of it on your face instead.” He brushed a finger over her cheek to clean the batter off and popped it in his mouth.

“I’m a disaster this morning,” Rayla chuckled, handing the spatula back to him. She leaned against the counter and watched him check the underside of the pancake. “Thanks for having me over. And for letting me use your room, even though I  _ told _  you I would sleep on the couch.”

“It’s no problem!” he insisted, tugging her back over and placing the spatula in her hand again. “I wanted to let you take my room. I slept just fine, so you don’t need to worry. Here, this one’s done, so you can take it off the pan and put it on the plate.”

Rayla did as she was told, her heart picking up as Callum kept his hand brushing against hers to guide her. Just as she set it on top of the other pancakes, the music playing from Callum’s phone turned to a more upbeat song, and Rayla grinned, dropping the spatula onto the plate and turning her hand around to grab Callum’s, leading him through a spin.

He let out another laugh, spinning her in return and pulling her close. They fought for who would lead, tittering each time one of them stepped on the other’s toes. Rayla (successfully) dipped Callum, who retaliated by moving his hands to her hips and lifting her off the floor, spinning both of them around as Rayla giggled, hands braced on his shoulders for support. He lowered her slowly back down to the floor as the song was reaching its end, losing its momentum. They stepped back and forth together, his arms around her waist and hers around his neck. Closing his eyes, Callum rested his forehead against hers, making her breath hitch in her throat. She closed her eyes in turn, tilting her head back just a bit to let their noses bump against each other.

“We’ve gotten better at that,” Rayla whispered. “I didn’t drop you this time.”

Chuckling, Callum replied, “I guess it’s a learning curve. One we got to go through together.” Pulling back just a few inches so he could look at her, he smirked. “Or maybe you were just _f_ _ alling _  for me back then.”

Rayla froze, and Callum’s eyes widened as he realized what he’d said. Both of their faces flushed bright red, and Rayla leaned her head on Callum’s shoulder to avoid looking at him. But she couldn’t help the grin on her face.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “That, uh, that was awkward, I didn’t think about it, it was just a stupid joke. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Callum.” Rayla took one of her hands from behind his neck to place it on his chest and look at him. “I have something I need to tell you.”

A silence fell between them, filled only by the music continuing on Callum’s phone. She could feel his breathing picking up, feel the racing of his heart matching her own. For a moment, she was afraid he was going to pull away and change the subject to avoid the conversation. But instead, his arms wrapped tighter around her, pulling her closer.

“I know what you’re going to say,” he whispered. “And it’s the same with me.”

Well now she couldn’t say it. As much as she wanted to tell him how she felt, let everything that had been building up over the course of the semester just come rushing out, there was no way that she could follow through with it now. He had handed her way too good of an opportunity.

“Really?” she asked, meeting his green eyes. “That’s not your natural hair color either?”

Callum stopped dead, gaping. He sputtered a few times, attempting to form a coherent response that ended up being more of, “What? I - you bleach? No, I don’t - where did that…” Blinking and looking at the top of her head, he said, “You bleach your hair?”

She snorted and replied, “Duh. I mean, I don’t technically  _ bleach _  it. But you’ve seen Leda and Daelan, their hair’s brown. Mine’s just a bit darker than theirs.”

“ _ What _ ?” Callum did let go of her then, putting his hands on her head and sifting through her hair. “I don’t see any roots! Doesn’t it grow back within a couple of weeks?”

Laughing, Rayla took his hands off her head and pressed a kiss to his fingers. “I may not be a mage myself, but my uncle’s boyfriend is. He enchanted an earring to give the illusion that I have white hair. Look.” She unhooked the small earring and removed it. In a swirl of blue magic, her hair darkened and gained its natural dark brown.

Callum’s jaw slackened as his fingers brushed lightly over her hair, whispering, “ _ What _ .” His eyes snapped down to meet hers and he demanded, “So you’ve been a dirty liar this whole time? A big old liar, with lie hair and an earring of lies.”

She snickered, shrugging. “Yeah, pretty much. But it’s okay, I’ve lied to everyone else about it too.” She replaced the earring and the illusion swept over her again, draining her hair of color.

“A big old liar,” Callum repeated, wrapping her in a hug again. “Do you want to tell me what you were  _ actually _  going to confess?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told him, her voice dripping with sarcastic innocence.

He groaned, burying his face in her hair. “Are you really gonna make me say it first? I thought  _ you _  were going to confess your feelings! But  _ no _ , you were just trapping me so I would be the first one to tell you that I’m in love with you!”

She laughed at the way he scowled, realizing that he’d let it slip. Brushing a spot of dried batter off his forehead, she informed him, “That wasn’t the original plan, but I am quite liking how things’ve turned out.”

“You’re the worst,” he said, though his tone betrayed his words. The affection in his voice made Rayla sure that her heart was going to stop beating.

Holding tightly to him, Rayla whispered back, “You’re the best. You’re absolutely the best, Callum, and I’m so lucky to know you. And yes.” She put a few inches between them, cradling his cheeks in her hands. “I was falling for you pretty hard during that first dance. And I’m in love with you too.” She hesitated for a moment, searching his eyes to try and discern what he was thinking. After what felt like an eternity, she closed the distance she'd created and pressed her lips to his, then quickly pulled away.

He looked like he was in awe, like he had never imagined any of this in his wildest dreams, like he had been waiting a lifetime for it. His fingers ghosted over the side of her face as a smile formed on his lips, his eyes softening. He slipped a hand around the back of her neck and kissed her again, more insistent than she had been. His lips felt like electricity on hers, and her arms slipped around him to hold him tightly, letting herself melt into his touch.

When he pulled away, he looked at her as though she was the only thing in the world, and she wanted to live in that gaze forever. 

“It took me longer to realize than it should have,” he told her. “But you...you make me see the world differently. You’re incredible, Rayla. I’ve never felt so deeply about anyone, and I’m so happy that it’s you I'm in love with.”

Rayla opened her mouth to reply, but was promptly cut off by the fire alarm screaming at them. She clapped her hands over her ears and frantically looked around, trying to figure out what had caused it, and mentally kicked herself, diving for the stove. She picked up the pan and turned off the still-hot burner while Callum opened a window and waved a dish towel at the fire alarm to get it to quiet down.

“Well that was exciting,” Callum laughed, bringing Rayla close by the waist. “Now what were we saying?”

Rayla’s attention was still on the stove. “Callum, our pancakes are gone.”

“What?” Callum whipped around to find that the plate had, indeed, disappeared. He narrowed his eyes and held a finger up to Rayla to signal her to stay quiet, then crept a few soft steps toward the entrance to the room, and shouted, “AHA!”

“RUN, BAIT!”

“EZRAN, YOU GET BACK HERE WITH OUR PANCAKES!”

“IF YOU GUYS WOULD STOP BEING GROSS, THERE WOULD BE ENOUGH TO SHARE!”

“EZ, I’M SERIOUS, DO NOT FEED THOSE TO YOUR FROG!”

“HE’S A GLOW TOAD AND YOU KNOW IT!”

Rayla was laughing hard, using a kitchen chair for support as Callum walked the line between wanting to tackle Ezran to the ground and being determined to save the pancakes. He was eventually able to use his height to his advantage and retake the plate, but not without sacrificing the top pancake that Ezran had already half shoved into Bait’s mouth.

“Still think he’s sweet and peaceful?” grumbled Callum, digging in the cupboards for a new pan.

“Moreso than Leda,” Rayla chuckled. “Let’s never let them meet.”

“Agreed. Come on, it looks like we’ll have to make more of these.” He held the spatula out to her.

She plucked it out of his hand and took the bowl of batter. “Only if I can have the fluffiest ones.”

Letting out a light laugh, Callum brushed her hair off her shoulder and replied, “I wouldn’t want you to have any less than the best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and for all of your wonderful, lovely comments! You have all been so sweet and I've loved seeing such a positive response!  
> Just a note, I realize that it may have been unclear because Rayla didn't have a hard moment of realization like Callum did. She acknowledged that she was developing feelings in chapters 2 and 3, and tried to squash them. It was in chapter 5 when they resolve their issues that she realizes she doesn't want to squash her feelings, and she accepts them. She falls softer than Callum does, but her feelings are just as strong! I'm sorry if that didn't come across!!  
> I love you guys so much, and you can expect more TDP/Rayllum from me in the future :D  
> [Come say hi to me on Tumblr!](https://little-red-alchemist-of-doom.tumblr.com/)


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